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A Very Metal Xmas - Latest Patch Dump
by meambobbo on 2011-12-24 23:39:38.1240

My latest patches - way better than my earlier ones. I hope to add Black Sabbath and Pantera to the list soon. Also, Meshuggah and Periphery Clean tones. But this is as far as I got for now.

\m/ 0_o \m/

A lot of these patches feature my favorite cab/mic trick to get a very rich sound from the built-in mic/cab simulations on the Pod. I use a dual amp patch, with the same amp and same settings on both channels. I use the Treadplate V30 4x12 cab on both channels as well. I set channel A volume to 50%, channel B to 40%. Channel A I use the SM57 on axis mic, which produces rich highs and upper mids. Channel B I use the 4038 Ribbon mic, which has good bass and mids but no highs. The two channels mix together very nicely to produce a high quality cab/mic sound.

If this combo is too bright enough for your tastes, try the same thing but set channel B to Uber 4x12 cab with '87 Condenser mic and turn the volume up to 50%.

When I use too many effects for a dual amp patch, I like to use the SM57 off axis mic.

I downloaded your tones and tried them out - wow, they really are good! I especially like the Van Halen patches (I just wish my playing did them justice).

Whilst on your web site, I also found your .mp3 demo files, put them on my iPod and have been listening to them in the car this week - I noticed that you have tones (e.g. Crazy Train / Rhodes) that are not contained in the Xmas patch set, but have screen grabs of the settings. Will you be adding these to the Xmas set, or are they still a work in progress?

Edit: Ah - I just found the 10-2011 demo tones.zip file - I should have looked a bit harder!

I keep volumes conservative inside the Pod to make sure I'm not getting any clipping or crackling. The parametric EQ, which I use a lot of, can be very sensitive. You'll notice if you start trying to turn up the Amp Volume knob on my patches, they can start to get dirty. I admit I haven't really "mastered" them yet - I wanted to get a dump out for Xmas. I am eventually going to re-work them all before I consider them finalized. This will include squeezing as much volume as I can from them.

Since I need to put the parametric EQ's behind my amps, I try to keep the amp volume conservative. For single amp patches, I try to add volume back in with the mixer, which I put as the last piece of my chain. For dual amp patches, that's not an option. I try to use a Studio EQ as the last part of my chain and boost using the gain parameter.

I use a SPDIF connection to my DAW, which is the main way I use my HD500. In the Pod settings menu, I boost the SPDIF output level a bit to add volume. When I run out to my Spider Valve combo amp I use different patches (I don't use cabs or dual amp patches), but they are generally around the same volume. I put the Master knob as high as I can get it before it makes my amp start distorting. I plug into the power amp in, and I set the Pod output level to "line". It's around 60% this way. If I set it to "amp" I can turn the Master Knob all the way up.

Turning up the Master knob as high as you can gets you the least hum/noise. But even at lower settings I have no problem dialing up as much volume as I could ever need out of my 60 watt 1x12 combo. There's also options to boost volume in your DAW or through a PA if you need to.

If you are using USB, they will be a little low. I'm not sure what the ideal solution is...I'd start by trying to turn up Amp Volume until you notice a negative impact on tone, then back off a bit. Further than that, for the single amp patches, you can just boost with the mixer at the end of the chain. Or if there's a Studio EQ, you can turn up the gain parameter - just make sure the Studio EQ's are behind any Parametric EQ's.

I should point out I've gone through some major tone adjustments since I made this last patch dump. The latest and greatest should be ready next month. Let me describe the evolution.

I was pretty satisfied with these patches until I tried out Ola's HJ patch. It through me for a loop that it sounded as good as it did with the XXL cab and 409 dyn mic. I was never able to get a great tone from the XXL, and I could have sworn I tried all the mics.

So if you can't beat them join them - I started replacing the Treadplate cab/4038 ribbon mic combination in my patches with the XXL cab/409 dyn mic combo. This added a whole lot more punch to my tones. score.

So i revamped almost all my patches where I was formerly using a dual Treaplate cab setup. Then I noticed my patches sounded a little fizzier than before. Yup - there was some noisy fizz in there. So I added (more like replaced with the DSP limitations I'm constantly running into) a parametric EQ to suck out a lil fizz. Went through all the patches doing that fix...

Then last week when I couldn't get a tone I was trying to dial in I tried to switch the mic on the XXL from 409 to SM57 on axis. I had tried this before and it left the tone a little thin, but I thought, maybe I can EQ the punch back in - the XXL should have plenty punch goodness buried in there, even with the 57 on axis. Sure enough, it worked.

But this meant I'd need an extra EQ, and with DSP limitations it didn't fit. I had to make some compromises but was able to get the extra EQ in there. I also noticed my fizz removing EQ was not working as well, so I retweaked it to find the new fizzy spot with the new mic. Really, there is much less fizz using the SM57. For some patches I found it was acceptable to remove it.

Anyhoo, I'm finalizing the rest of my tones this week. I'll be recording them the following 2 weeks, then posting them hopefully by the end of this month.

As far as the patches go, I have some new ones. Petrucci-esque Mark IV rhythm and lead tones using the Fireball (current Petrucci Mark patches are revamped to be more like Mark IIC+ tone). I have Pantera Cowboys from Hell and Vulgar Display of Power. I also have some custom tones - a Bob HJ patch designed to mimic Ola's but be less muffled sounding and more rich, and a couple other go to patches I use. Finally, I have a Lamb of God Resolution patch.